The present embodiments relate to a device for establishing an electrical contact between two device elements moving relative to each other.
Arrangements for establishing a sliding contact between two moving components are used in various areas of technology. Arrangements of this kind are used, for example, in computer tomographs, which have a stationary structure and elements rotating around the patient (e.g., radiation sources and detectors). The transmission of data or energy between the moving part (e.g., a rotor) and the stationary part (e.g., a stator) is achieved, for example, by sliding contacts (e.g., a slip ring).
Arrangements of this kind may have a lubricant (e.g., a liquid lubricant) between components moved relative to each other. The operation of a sliding contact arrangement also develops abrasion. Abrasion may include small particles that are ground off during operation.
Lubricants and abrasion may have a negative impact on the contact element used. For example, the operational capability of brushes in conventional brush-type contact pickoffs becomes impaired over time. The lubricant or the mixture of abrasion and lubricant impairs the elasticity of the brushes over time. As a result, the entire system reacts much more sensitively to unevennesses in the slideway, and the signal quality deteriorates. For this reason, the brushes used for the currents and voltages may be overdimensioned. The overdimensioning (e.g., increasing the wire diameter of wires from which the brushes are formed) has certain drawbacks such as, for example, a deterioration of the dynamic properties due to the greater weight of the brush.
Comparable problems are addressed in DE 195 43 383 B4, DE 198 17 796 C2 and DE 102 007 054 675 A1. These publications describe possibilities for avoiding the negative consequences of abrasion (e.g., with the aid of a collecting device (DE 195 43 383 B4 and DE 102 007 054 675 A1) or by design measures (DE 198 17 796 C2)).